Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels by Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, Giacomo Patri and Laurence Hyde

I ordered this book for my comics course. It taught me a lot about visual narratives and woodcut novels. The book also came in great condition, thanks!

Four stories- no words- let your mind connect the dots. Amazing amount of thought, planning, and work that the artists put into these four different stories.

Gorgeous book with detailed explanations of woodcut techniques including pictures of the tools and how they are used. The wordless novels are amazing and you can see the similar yet totally individual styles of these 4 artists.

A mew art form for me!! Enjoyed it!!

My son bought Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels for one of his college classes. It served it's purpose for his class.

Wonderful. Matchless. So entertaining, and important for print lovers.

Woodcut novels are a rare and beautiful art form that have been underappreciated for far too long. Thankfully in recent years some of these classic "graphic novels" have been rescued from obscurity and given the proper respect they deserve. This collection features four great works created from 1918 to 1951.Frans Masereel is the European pioneer of the genre. His art exhibits the jagged simplicity of German Expressionism, and his storytelling is correspondingly disjointed and ambiguous. Lynd Ward is the American master, embodying the true apex of the art form. (The Library of America recently published an edition of his complete works.) His prints are beautifully detailed with intricate line work, and his narrative likewise displays complexity and depth. Canadian artist Laurence Hyde provides the most beautiful art in the book, combining the stark gravity of Masereel with the nuance of line and tone found in Ward's work. Italian-American artist Giacomo Patri supplies the weakest piece in the collection. His art, in both its conception and execution, is really not in the same league as the other three, but his story provides a valuable glimpse into life during the Great Depression. If there's a common thread among the four works, it is a stand against social injustice. No less than three of the works feature workers rising up against their oppressors, with mixed results.The only reason I'm not giving this book five stars is because I was disappointed by the thirty-odd pages of text that accompany the art. The preface and introduction by Walker, and the afterword by Seth provide only a couple paragraphs of biographical information on each artist, with some very general comments on how these novels expressed the political realities of their time and how woodcut novels were the precursors to today's graphic novels. To this I say, "Duh." I would have preferred more detailed biographies and more on the history of woodcut novels in general.

As a long-time collector of woodcut novels, I am overjoyed to see the republishing of these gems. In this one very reasonably priced volume, you get a great introduction to this little known art form. If you have an interest in art history, early-to-mid 20th century political movements, art deco style, or if you simply enjoy good stories, you'll love this book. You really do not need an interest in modern-day graphic novels to appreciate these works (I don't). If you do have an interest in graphic novels, get this book, and learn some family history of the art.Each of these books (four books for the price of one!) takes a slice of the artist's contemporary life and then explores the timeless conditions of humankind. Masereel was profounding affected by World War I and the European chaos between the wars, so his art addresses social conditions, including the urbanization of society, during those years. Ward and Patri were also affected by their times -- so the hardship and civil unrest brought on by the Great Depression and the trade union movement is the background for their stories here. Ward also presciently treats the rise of nazism in his other woodcut novels.Patri's "White Collar" in particular is a real find, because this story is not readily available in any other form, as far as I know. Finally, Hyde's story was printed in 1951, and he addresses the first man-made weapon of mass destruction, the A-bomb, and its effect on the environment of the South Seas.This book also gives a good sampling of the art of the woodcut novel, over time. The earliest is Masereel's work of 1918, and his figures have the least detail, and thus lack an ability to communicate nuance in the characters. Ward's work, is highly detailed, in a distinctive art deco style (akin to the work of Rockwell Kent) and I find more enjoyable.To fully appreciate all these works, you need to spend some time with them on a second and third "read." It takes only a few minutes to go through each story, which is all it takes to get a general understanding of the story. However, upon rereading, and studying the figures, you will probably come to a different understanding of the story. Without words, there is a lack of precision, so your life experience and imagination will fill in the blanks.Congratulations to the publisher (Firefly Books) for preserving this important art form, and making it accessible at a very reasonable price. Kudos!

great if you are into graphic novels

Son 4 historias sin palabras realizadas hace muucho tiempo. Te das cuenta que esto del cómic no nació ayer. Al ser una antología unas te gustarán más que otras, pero las 4 merecen la pena y además cuando éste libro se descatalogue será muy dificil encontrarlo. Como curiosidad, mientras leía las memorias de Zweig "El mundo de ayer" me sorprendí que éste fuera amigo y admirara a Masereel. Que Stefan Zweig, uno de los mayores intelectuales europeos del s.XX, admiraba el trabajo de "un autor de comics"? Bueno, también a Picasso le encantaba Krazy Kat. Ya tenemos algunas respuestas para cuando "Tan grande y leyendo cómics?"

Las historias pueden ser complejas de entender pero las ilustraciones son hermosas a pesar de que son monocromáticas transmiten mucho con un buen uso del contraste y expresiones (corporales y faciales) de los personajes, curiosa la falta de "sonido"

Super pour découvrir ce type de livre. Les gravures sont très "expressives".

Quatre style différents mais tous très beau. Les années 20-50 telles que décrites par des auteurs de gauche (Steinback et "les raisin de la colère", Upton Sinclair est "la jungle", Jack London est "La botte de fer") raconté graphiquement.